(Lhr Um'urrsity of (Cltftagn 



THE LAY ELEMENT 

IN THE INTERMEDIATE UNIT OF 

STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 



A DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY 

OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE 

IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 



THOMAS DUDLEY BROOKS 



Private Edition, Distributed By 

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARIES 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



Reprinted from 

THE BAYLOR BULLETIN, VOL. XXV. NO. 1 

January 1922 



She Mtttuersftu of Chfcagn 



THE LAY ELEMENT 

IN THE INTERMEDIATE UNIT OF 

STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 



A DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY 

OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE 

IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 



THOMAS DUDLEY BROOKS 



Private Edition, Distributed By 

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARIES 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



Reprinted from 

THE BAYLOR BULLETIN, VOL. XXV, NO. I 

January 1922 



31? 



2- 









*, 



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PREFACE 

The following is a single chapter of a comparative study, made as a 
part of the New York Rural School Survey, of the intermediate unit in 
school administration as it has developed in New York and in the other 
states. Other topics of the comprehensive study are : the evolution of the 
intermediate unit, the functions of its professional officers, and the 
selection and remuneration of such officers. There is also a considera- 
tion based on other sources than statutes, of the lines of development 
indicated by current practice in New York. 

The sources of fact in the general study are the school laws of the 
several states, the documents examined being listed on pages 40-42. 
Statistical data have been taken from reports of the New York district 
superintendents, and are for the year 1919-1920. Information was also 
secured by question blanks sent to the several state departments, to the 
district superintendents, and to the chairmen of the boards of school 
directors in New York. 

The complete study was submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate 
School of Arts and Literature of the University of Chicago in partial 
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 
in the Department of Education. The present is the publication of a single 
chapter as a "representative unit" of the whole in satisfaction of require- 
ments therewith. 
August 2, 1921. T. D. B. 



THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTERMEDIATE UNIT 
OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 

Amid all the diversity of the state school systems, there is apparent in 
each the provision of administrative and supervisory school machinery 
on three rather distinct levels : the local, the state, and one intermediate 
between them. The school is local in its operations and requires distinctly 
local machinery. Our American political tendencies cause us to assign 
to this local unit as many as possible of the functions of school manage- 
ment. At the same time it is a fundamental doctrine that education is a 
function of the state, exercised primarily for the protection of the state 
itself. Hence in each state there is a state department of education, 
charged among other duties with the maintenance of such standards as 
the state sees fit to enforce. 

To secure the co-operation and co-ordination of state and local units, 
an intermediate unit becomes necessary. It serves the state department 
as a "medium of communication" for information concerning the law, 
procedure and practice ; for leadership and stimulation ; and for effective 
enforcement of standards. 

However, the American people are coming to conceive of certain educa- 
tional services as imperative which the local unit is unable to render for 
itself. Expert school supervision is an example of these new demands. 
Co-operative provision for these through the intermediate unit is a 
marked feature of school legislation in recent decades. 

This dual classification of function as intermediary and co-operative is 
illuminating in the study of effective organization for such school ma- 
chinery. It also serves to explain some stages of its evolution. 

Cook and Monahan (*) conclude that the present office of county 
superintendent, almost universally a feature of the intermediate unit, 
evolved from lay boards which were, it seems, clearly intermediate in 
their character. This evolution is particularly clear in New York, where 
the substitution of a professional officer for a lay board was effected 
by laws enacted in 1841 and 1843. (-') The transition was in general 
completed in the reorganization of the school systems of the Southern 
states which followed the reconstruction period. More recently there has 
been a decided trend, the extent of which is made apparent in the fol- 
lowing pages, to the association of a lay board and a professional officer 
or staff. 

To the writer this evolution is significant. It became evident half a 
century ago that a layman could not perform the detailed tasks involved 
in school supervision and management. Hence a single officer was sub- 
stituted for a lay board. Today the growing conception of the possibili- 



(1) Cook and Monahan: Rural School Supervision, pages 7-12. 

(2) Laws of New York 1S41, chapter 260; Laws of New York 1843, chap- 
ter 133. 



6 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

ties of co-operative service by the intermediate unit and the realization 
that school supervision involves the formulation of programs and policies 
lead to the re-injection of lay control for the exercise of larger powers. 

It seems an American tendency to employ a professional officer for the 
performance of rather narrowly limited statutory duties, for rendering 
service requiring expertness, for executive . responsibility, and for expert 
counsel. On the other hand, for the expression of popular desire, the 
formulation of policy and program, the exercise of discretionary authority, 
and the employment and direction of professional experts, the tendency 
seems to be to provide lay boards. The American people tend to resist, 
as bureaucratic, the exercise of large authority by a single officer except 
where his work is closely paralleled by lay control. If this is a true 
description of the political characteristics of the American people, it is 
wise that school administration machinery conform to it. 

Furthermore, the real authority and responsibility rest with the people. 
Continued direction of the schools by professional experts without popu- 
lar participation must produce in the people lessened acquaintance with 
and interest in the problems of the schools, and lessened ability to deal 
with them. This reduces the ability to exercise local initiative, to main- 
tain expert management, or even to respond to expert leadership. When 
the public refuse to follow out a proposed program (to finance a given 
school activity, for example), it means either mistaken leadership, or an 
uninformed public or a financial inability. So far as the provision of a 
lay board as an element of the intermediate unit indicates popular par- 
ticipation in the functioning of the intermediate unit and secures for it a 
larger authority, it must be desirable. 

This combination of professional service and lay control is the basis on 
which our unequaled American urban school systems have developed- It 
is evident in all local units — a trustee, school committee or board of edu- 
cation, and a teacher or a teaching staff. On the state plane in the most 
fully developed systems, there is a lay board of education and a state 
superintendent or a state commissioner of education heading a profes- 
sional staff. From this point of view a canvass of general practice with 
regard to the composition of the intermediate unit should be worth while. 

Under the New England plan the lay element is not lacking. There 
the local units are the towns, which unite voluntarily or are grouped into 
supervisory unions by the state departments for the joint employment of 
school superintendents. The superintendent is in close and constant 
relationship with the school committee of each town, and provision is 
also made in most instances for representatives of each of the school 
committees to compose a joint supervision committee to function co-oper- 
atively on the intermediate level.. 

This joint supervision committee is a feature of the plan in Connecticut 
and Massachusetts. In Maine the law provides that the superintending 
school committees of the towns composing the union shall form a joint 
committee which may be composed of all the committees of each of the 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 7 

towns, or of one representative from each with the full vote of the town. 
In New Hampshire the school boards of the several districts composing 
the union constitute a joint committee which for all the purposes of the 
union is the agent of each district therein represented. The Vermont law 
seems less general in its provision of a lay board on the intermediate 
level, since apparently the boards meet jointly only at the call of the State 
Commissioner of Education in the case of a vacancy in the union super- 
intcndency, when from a list of qualified persons submitted by the 
Commissioner they elect a superintendent; or in the case complaint is 
filed against the superintendent by two directors, to pass upon his reten- 
tion or dismissal. 

With this exception the New England plan seems to provide for the 
union a lay board which functions continuously, and is in a position to 
formulate and put into execution such a co-operative program as the 
interests of the schools demand. 

The intermediate unit in the county system states may be described as 
of either the county board type or the county officer type. In some of 
the states in which a county board is provided, the "county unit" form 
of administration is adopted, in which almost all of the administration 
and supervision of the schools of the county are performed by the county 
board and its professional officer or officers, few of the original func- 
tions being left to the district. In other cases the county board serves to 
furnish a more or less comprehensive program of supervision and to 
perform such other administrative functions as the local district clearly 
cannot perform effectively for itself. 

Twenty-six states have one or the other of these types of county boards 
of education, usually known by that name, and referred to in this study 
as county boards. Washington and California have county boards, part 
at least of which are teachers, certification of teachers being apparently 
their chief function. .Many of the duties of the Kansas board also sug- 
gest a professional membership. Each board exercises some of the 
functions usual to lay boards, however, and is treated as such here. 

In ten states, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mary- 
land, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah, county boards have 
been assigned most of the powers formerly held by the local trustees and 
these systems represent the "county unit" plan. Prior to the enactment 
of sweeping changes by the 1921 legislature, the Delaware organization 
had been for several years a very complete example of the county unit 
plan. As such, the former law is referred to in the following pages 
when Delaware is mentioned unless it is otherwise stated. The law, as 
may be seen from the following pages, not only provided an organization 
which might undertake large co-operative service, but by detailed pre- 
scription made many progressive and probably expensive features manda- 
tory. The new law 0) is a sweeping abolition of the intermediate unit. 

~7l)~~The School Laws of Delaware, as Enacted by the General Assembly, 
1921. 



8 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

Legislation enacted in 1921 in Arizona C 1 ) and Oregon ( 2 ) provides 
such a plan of school administration, the adoption of which is optional 
with the counties. References to these states in this study are based on 
the general laws, which presumably for a time at least will continue to 
determine practice in these states. The nature of the new laws can be 
inferred very accurately from the plans of other county unit states. 

In general the criteria by which the county unit plan can be distin- 
guished from a purely intermediate unit plan are whether the county 
board selects teachers for the local schools and holds, erects, maintains, 
and equips the school houses, though not all of the states named grant 
the county board all these powers. 

Although in these states it is generally provided that, to quote the 
Alamaba statute as an example, "the public schools of the several coun- 
ties of the state, except those in the incorporated cities and towns, shall 
be under the immediate direction and control of a county board of educa- 
tion," there is usually also provision for a local school officer to exercise 
oversight over the property and affords a means of communicating local 
sentiment concerning the schools. 

To quote the Alabama code again, the county board is instructed to 

" * * * appoint for every school in the county a discreet, competent and 
reliable person or persons of mature years, not exceeding three in number, 
residing near the school house, and having the respect and confidence of 
the community, to care for the property, and look after the general inter- 
ests of the school, and to make to the county board of education, through 
the county superintendent of education, from time to time, reports of the 
progress and heeds of the school, and of the will and sentiment of the 
people in regard to the school." 

Delaware continued a district board of trustees which the county board 
was required to consult before changing the boundaries of school attend- 
ance districts- The Florida law provides that the county board shall 
appoint one "supervisor" for each school on the recommendation of the 
patrons, "whose duty it shall be to supervise the work of the schools and 
report monthly to the county superintendent." The office of local trustee 
is retained in Kentucky, even under the new law of 1921, which very 
greatly enlarged the powers of the county board. The parish board in 
Louisiana "may appoint local school directors and prescribe their duties." 
In Georgia the county board may or may not provide for the election of 
district trustees. The Maryland county board of education appoints 
district boards of trustees and has the power to remove them. This 
district board has the power to refuse to accept the teacher assigned to 
their school, but cannot refuse to accept more than two for the same 
place ; and may file written charges against a teacher. It also appoints 
the janitor, has care of the property, sees that the outbuildings are well 
kept, and attends to incidental repairs, charging the cost to the county 
school fund. 

(1) Senate Bill No. 104, 1921. 

(2) General Laws of Oregon 1921, chapter 265, 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 9 

Under the 1921 law by which Missouri adopts the county unit plan the 
directors of the local districts select their own teachers from an eligible 
list furnished by the county superintendent, although the teachers are 
employed and their salaries fixed by the county board. In North Caro- 
lina the township committee appoints one man in each school district to 
look after the school house and property and advise with the committee. 
Until modified by the 1921 legislation, the Tennessee law provided for a 
district advisory board which visited and inspected schools, saw that the 
school house was in good repair and properly equipped, made recom- 
mendations to the county board, took the census, might suspend pupils 
and might order repairs up to the amount of $10. This local board, along 
with the county high school board, was abolished at the last legislative 
session, the functions of both being vested in the county board. 

Thus even under a plan where the schools of a county are managed as 
a unit by a county board, in nine of the eleven states there remains some 
purely local machinery. 

The other sixteen states that have county boards — Arkansas, California, 
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana (an optional plan), Nevada, 
New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washing- 
ton, and Wisconsin — preserve a system of district administration and 
utilize the county boards for varying purposes of co-operation and con- 
trol. Among the functions assigned them in various states are the fol- 
lowing: (1) formation, alteration and consolidation of school districts; 
(2) the making of county school budgets and the levying of county school 
taxes; (3) the apportionment of school funds; (4) the correlation of 
the schools into a system and the provision of high schools and of larger 
school opportunity in other ways than a single district can provide; (5) 
the certification of teachers; (6) the selection of textbooks; (7) the 
prescription of a course of study; (8) provision of a program of super- 
vision; (9) the administration of compulsory attendance, vaccination re- 
quirements, etc; (10) the hearing of appeals. Another most important 
item in the description of these boards is their relation to the county 
superintendent. 

In Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mary- 
land, Tennessee, and Utah, the county board selects the teachers for 
each of the schools. The power to fix salary, assign, transfer or dismiss 
may be generally implied in this, though not always explicitly stated in 
the codes. In New Mexico, the local directors employ the teachers, sub- 
ject to the approval of the county board. In North Carolina there is a 
township board which selects the teachers although the county board 
determines the salary schedule. 

The county boards in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, 
Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, 
and Utah hold the title to the school property, purchase or lease sites, 
and erect, maintain, and equip the school houses in the county. In South 



10 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

Carolina all building plans must be submitted to the county board for 
approval. 

Probably the most common function of the county board in the several 
states is the formation, alteration, dissolution, and consolidation of school 
districts. This power is assigned the county board in Alabama, Arkansas, 
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, 
Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, 
Texas, and Wisconsin. Of the states having county boards which do not 
control district lines, the lack of the power is explained by the fact that 
in Virginia the magisterial district is the school district, and in Indiana 
the township; while in California, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, Ore- 
gon, and Washington the county boards exercise very restricted powers. 

It ought not to be thought that this is an unimportant function for the 
intermediate unit. The impossibility of its exercise by a central state 
office is apparent. It is equally evident that if all the territory of the 
state is to be organized into school districts, it cannot be left to the wishes 
of the residents of the districts themselves. Experience has shown that 
its exercise by non-educational authorities is almost always without con- 
structive program, along lines of least resistance, and tends to the multi- 
plication of small districts- 

Nor can it be assumed that in the states that are generally settled up, 
the existing district lines can remain unchanged indefinitely. Very evi- 
dent facts concerning rural population are distinctly to the contrary. In 
many sections the rural population is decreasing in numbers. With im- 
proved farm machinery, fewer people are needed to till the soil, and the 
attractions of urban life do not fail to draw off the excess population. 
Changes in the prevailing form of agriculture may make rapid changes 
in the number of residents in a given farming community, because the 
new type of farming demands more or fewer people. There is a very 
general reduction in the size of the American family as compared with 
two or three generations ago- In a small community with a few families, 
permanently established, the number of children of school age is not 
steady through a considerable period of years, but tends to fluctuate, 
sometimes markedly, with the maturing of families and the coming on of 
a new generation. It is a common thing to find, as a result of these fac- 
tors, schools which today have a bare handful of children and which had, 
twenty-five or thirty years ago, a hundred or more. 

Even more important are the effects of changes in school curriculum 
and school organization. A single teacher cannot administer an eight 
grade, fully graded course. Her day isn't long enough to hear all the 
classes. At least two teachers with the complement of children to war- 
rant their employment are necessary to provide a complete elementary 
school, fully graded. The power to modify district lines continues to be 
fundamental in school administration, and must be exercised construc- 
tively. 



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12 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTERMEDIATE 

The authority of county boards is sometimes limited by permitting the 
people of the districts affected to veto a change by a majority vote or 
petition, or to appeal to the state department. Quite as frequently, how- 
ever, in recent legislation, there is statutory limitation to guard against 
making the districts too small. The former Delaware code provided that 
"the county Board of Education shall not maintain any single room school 
without the written approval of the State Board of Education which dur- 
ing the last three preceding school years has had an average of less than 
twelve pupils," and the new code permits the closing of such a school by 
the State Board of Education. 

The Florida law says that "schools shall not be nearer than three 
miles to each other except for some local reason or necessity." The 
Louisiana parish board "may not open a school for fewer than ten pupils 
in average daily attendance, except upon the approval of the State Board 
of Education." North Carolina makes the restriction triple : the county 
board may establish no new school in less than three miles of a present 
one; it may create no new district with less than sixty-five children, 
unless for some urgent reason; and it may not increase the number of 
districts existing on January I, 1919. South Carolina prescribes that the 
county school board shall "divide the county into convenient school dis- 
tricts of from nine to forty-nine square miles in area-" Tennessee re- 
quires the county board to suspend any school where the attendance falls 
below ten. 

These provisions, as well as frequent explicit authority to consolidate 
schools, usually coupled with permissive or mandatory provisions concern- 
ing transportation of pupils, show the very general recognition in the 
several states that the country school must be a larger school to meet 
modern demands. 

In Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mon- 
tana, Nevada, Utah, and Virginia, the county board formulates the an- 
nual school budget for the county. In Delaware the county board prepared 
an itemized budget and laid a capitation tax of from $3.00 to $6.00 on 
all voters in the county and a property tax of not to exceed 1 per cent. 
This budget and proposed tax is submitted, by the state board of educa- 
tion, to the Levy Board of the county, which was directed to levy and 
collect. The Florida provision is that the county board shall prepare an 
annual budget, in terms of a tax (from 3 to 7 mills), which "the assessor 
shall assess." The Kentucky fiscal court must make the levy, between 
25c and 50c on each $100 valuation, of a tax to provide the budget made 
by the county board. In Maryland the county board, with the advice 
of the county superintendent, prepares a detailed school budget showing 
funds needed, estimated receipts from the state, and the necessary local 
tax, which may not be less than 34c oh the $100 valuation. This tax the 
county commissioners must levy up to a 40c limit, above which their 
approval is necessary. 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 13 

The Missouri board formulates and publishes a budget, with the author- 
ity to levy a 40c tax and to submit to the voters such increase in the 
levy as the budget indicates is necessary. This function is apparently 
the only one exercised by the Montana board under the 1919 law. The 
trustees of the subdistrict prepare a budget including all items of opera- 
tion and maintenance for the ensuing year. From these subdistrict 
budgets, the county board prepares a budget for the county and certifies 
it to the county commissioners who levy the necessary tax. Extraordi- 
nary expenditures or those for other purposes than operation and main- 
tenance are not included in the budget, but are cared for by a tax on 
the property of the subdistrict. The county board in Utah likewise has 
authority to have levied the tax to provide the budget it formulates. The 
Virginia county board prepares an estimate of the funds needed and 
submits it to the county board of supervisors, where the taxing author- 
ity seems to be lodged. The parish board of Louisiana and the county 
board of North Carolina are also required to formulate budgets without 
the authority to levy the corresponding tax. The latter, like the Alabama 
board, has the authority to initiate a tax election when need for increased 
funds arises. 

Louisiana and South Carolina make the levy of a three mill county 
school tax obligatory' on the county boards, the proceeds of which they 
apportion among the districts. Arkansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Texas, 
and Virginia also charge the county board with the apportionment of 
state and county school funds to the several districts, a function that is 
very frequently performed by the county superintendent in other states. 
In Arkansas, Ohio, Oregon, and Texas the program of activity which 
the county board is authorized to undertake, including in some instances 
the salary and expenses of the county superintendent, is paid for from an 
unapportioned part of the county school fund reserved at the time of 
apportionment to the districts. 

A fourth function frequently assigned to the county board is the cor- 
relation of the schools of the county into a system, and the provision of 
larger school opportunity through high schools, etc. Alabama, Delaware, 
Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, and Texas empower the county board to 
"grade and classify," or to "grade and standardize" the schools. The 
Delaware board is charged also to provide for the transfer of pupils from 
six-grade to eight-grade schools, and for the admission to high school of 
those who complete the eighth grade. This provision for elementary 
school graduation or for admission to high school is explicitly made a 
duty of the county board in California, Kansas, and Washington. The 
function is probably implicit in the power to make rules and regulations 
for the conduct and management of the schools, granted the county boards 
in Delaware, Ceorgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, and 
Washington, and in general within the province of county boards in 
county unit states. 



14 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

Again the importance and educational character of this function need 
to be emphasized. It is essentially the co-ordinating of the individual 
district schools to the end that pupils may, on changing their residence, 
pass from one to another with a minimum of interruption. It is neces- 
sary in order that each school may undertake only such work as it can 
efficiently do, while the opportunity for more advanced work not only 
may be constantly available to each pupil but may exert its very real 
influence in holding pupils in school. Studies in other than rural educa- 
tion indicate that the most important factor in persistence in school is 
the purpose of the pupil ; but if the school system does not make evident 
to him an open road, he is not likely to form a definite purpose to com- 
plete an education. 

The necessity for the co-operation of local districts to provide high 
school advantages has been fruitful of a large volume of educational 
legislation. Of the many efforts to provide a solution, several are based 
on the functioning of a county board. In Nevada, the county board has 
the single duty of providing one or more high schools for pupils resid- 
ing outside of the city school districts, but for this purpose it is granted 
what is apparently a full list of powers. When the establishment of a 
county high school has been authorized, the county board is created and 
may prepare an annual budget to be raised by taxation, employ teachers 
and other necessary employees, and is charged with enforcing the state 
uniform high school course of study. 

In California, in addition to legislation permitting cities and strong 
school districts to provide high schools, technical schools and junior col- 
leges independently, provision is made for the organization of high 
school districts independent of their component common school districts, 
and for the consolidation of weak high school districts into stronger 
"union high school districts." The law contemplates that when such 
union high school districts include all the territory of the county outside 
of cities and other school districts maintaining high schools, the high 
school district shall become a "county high school district," and that the 
county board of education shall become the trustees of such county high 
school district and "shall have the same powers and duties in regard 
thereto, as high school boards of other high school districts." The 
county board is also authorized to permit common school districts to 
offer something more than the elementary course. 

In connection with the function of classifying schools, the county board 
in Texas is especially charged with the development of high school facil- 
ities, though not permitted to establish high schools outright. It may 
work on any one of three plans: the consolidation of districts for high 
school purposes only; the outright consolidation of districts to produce 
a unit strong enough to maintain high schools; or the negotiation of ar- 
rangements between separate school districts by which one provides high 
school instruction for the pupils of another. 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 15 

The Mississippi law, under which county agricultural high schools are 
being established over the state, makes the establishment of such high 
schools devolve on the county board, although the schools are admin- 
istered by a separate board of five trustees, two of whom are appointed 
by the county board- In the New Mexico law, high schools in rural 
districts are specifically in the list over which the county board shall have 
"full power and control." 

In the case of county unit states, the provision of high schools is im- 
plicit apparently in each case. In Alabama the governor, the auditor and 
the superintendent of education constitute a commission to locate one 
high school in each county, which after establishment is under the control 
and direction of the county board but subject to the approval of the above 
"high school commission." The attorney general of the state has ruled 
that the county board may make appropriation from funds in its control 
for the maintenance of these schools. The Delaware board was vested 
"with all the powers necessary or proper for the control and manage- 
ment of the free public schools." Besides a similar general statement, 
the Florida county board is required to "establish, when required by 
patrons, schools of higher grades of instruction, where the advancement 
and number of pupils require them." The Georgia county boards "may 
organize one or more manual labor schools on such a plan as will be 
self-sustaining," and subject to the approval of the state board of edu- 
cation. This provision is either humor of the legislative "joker" variety, 
or is an astonishing tribute to the ingenuity of the county school boards. 
Fortunately the code also states that "the Board of Education of any 
county or municipality shall have the right to establish one or more high 
schools or junior high schools as in their opinion may be necessary and 
may be possible through local taxation funds. 

The provision of one or more county high schools has been obligatory 
on the county board in Kentucky, with the option that arrangement might 
be made instead for the free tuition of county school pupils in existing 
"high schools of the first class.' The new county school law (1920) is 
silent concerning high schools, but presumably does not repeal the former 
provision. The Louisiana parish board is given authority to establish 
such public schools as it may deem necessary-, including subject to the 
sanction of the state board of education one or more high schools. The 
powers and duties of the Missouri board with regard to high schools are 
full and explicit- The North Carolina law makes the township the unit 
for high school purposes, the high schools being under the control of a 
high school committee appointed by the county board. 

The importance placed on the provision of secondary instruction in the 
Utah plan is indicated by the fact that each portion of a county already 
organized into a "high school district" was permitted to become a "county 
school district of the first class." One would infer from the law an 
effort to simplify school administration by committing to one board, 



16 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

called a county board, the functions formerly exercised by the dual 
machinery of common school district and high school district boards. 
Moreover, the law contains an explicit provision granting the county 
board power "to establish, locate, and maintain kindergarten schools, 
common schools consisting of primary and grammar grades, high schools 
and industrial or manual training schools." 

Until 1921, Tennessee had paralleled its county board with a county 
high school board of education charged with the administration of county 
high schools, the power to establish which was vested in the county court. 
By a sweeping simplification of machinery, ( x ) however, the last legis- 
lature abolished the county high school board, vested its functions in the 
county board, and in a second act ( 2 ) required each county to maintain a 
first class high school. 

Where the effort to provide high school facilities leads to the organ- 
ization of special high school districts with separate high school boards 
a dual system of administration develops that is admittedly bad. The 
co-ordination of the work of elementary and high schools is difficult 
enough at best. It seems highly desirable that a single intermediate unit 
be developed capable of exercising all such functions as seem to demand 
such a unit, including the administration of secondary schools. 

Perhaps no function of school administration more fully demands the 
co-operation of lay and professional officers than the formulation and 
prescription of a course of study- This is the final expression of edu- 
cational program and policy, which the people through their represen- 
tatives should determine, although the embodiment of this program into 
a detailed curriculum demands the services of a professional expert. 

State legislatures have tended to prescribe what must be taught, thus 
serving to express popular desire. The necessity of entrusting the making 
of the course of study to some agency which can command the requisite 
professional experts and the authority to enforce the decisions reached 
often leads to the prescription of state wide courses of study, or perhaps 
more frequently to the submission of suggested syllabi by the state 
departments. Local adaptation is, however, almost equally necessary. 
Hence the frequency with which this function is entrusted to the inter- 
mediate unit, as being near enough the actual work of instruction to 
know the needed adaptations and supplied with a professional officer 
prepared to organize a general program into a detailed curriculum. 

To prescribe a course of study, usually on the recommendation of the 
county superintendent, is explicitly made the duty of the county board 
in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, and Maryland of the county unit states ; 
and of California, Ohio, Texas, and Washington of the states with 
limited county boards. In a good many cases the statutes are silent on 
the subject beyond prescribing a list of subjects which shall be taught; 
in a few instances the power to prescribe the course is conferred on the 

(1) Acts of 1921, Chapter 120. (2)Acts of 1921, Chaper 40. 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 17 

local trustee; and in some cases, the state department is directed to issue 
a course that shall be enforced throughout the state. Thus the county 
boards of South Carolina and Utah are made responsible for the en- 
forcement of the state course of study; and the Nevada county board 
(with the single function of providing high school facilities) is required 
to enforce the state high school course of study. 

Closely related is the matter of the selection of textbooks — likewise 
requiring expert professional service, with probably some form of lay 
sanction. State-wide textbook adoptions are very common, and unlike 
state-wide courses of study are usually rigidly enforced. Little can be 
said in favor of state-wide adoptions as a means of securing desirable 
textbooks. It is argued in their favor that they secure the best books at 
low prices, that they avoid inconvenience and expense when a pupil moves 
from one part of the state to another, and that they eliminate political 
interference of textbook company representatives in the relation of local 
school boards and superintendents. 

Where state adoptions prevail, the enforcement of the use of the pre- 
scribed textbooks is frequently made a duty of the county board or the 
county superintendent. The county boards of Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, 
Maryland, and Missouri are authorized to select, on the recommendation 
of the county superintendent, the textbooks to be used in the county. In 
the case of Delaware the selection was made from a state list and the 
textbooks were furnished free to the pupils- The Maryland provision is 
that the county board shall purchase and distribute, on the written recom- 
mendation of the county superintendent, textbooks, supplementary read- 
ers, school supplies, etc. Provision of free textbooks is optional with the 
Missouri board. In Iowa, this is the only function of the board, except 
that it serves as an advisory board to the county superintendent. 

The Indiana county board, which consists of the county superintendent, 
the trustees of the township (which are the local school units) and the 
chairman of the school trustees of each city and town, seems to have this 
matter of selection of textbooks as its chief function. It also "considers 
the general wants and needs of the schools and school property and all 
matters relating to the purchase of school furniture, books, maps, charts, 
etc. Change of textbooks (except for cities) and the care and manage- 
ment of township libraries shall be determined by such boards." In 
Wisconsin, the county convention of school directors may by vote adopt 
the plan of county uniform textbooks, in which event "it shall be the duty 
of said school board convention to * * * elect a county board of educa- 
tion," to be composed of five legally qualified teachers of at least five 
years' experience in teaching or supervision, the sole function of which is 
to adopt textbooks for the county This county board of education must 
not be confused with the Wisconsin "county committee on common 
schools" which deals with district lines and appoints supervisors. 

Less frequently, perhaps, than the county superintendent, the county 



18 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

boards are charged with the performance of certain duties for the state. 
Under certain relations between the board and superintendent that will 
be noted later in detail, such duties are usually incumbent on the board, 
although performed by the superintendent as its executive officer. Thus 
in Delaware and Maryland the county board is required to forward reports 
to the state department. The county board is made responsible for secur- 
ing the school census in Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland and Utah. A 
somewhat similar function is that of passing on controversies and dis- 
putes, or of passing on appeals, as one of a series of tribunals, which is 
assigned to the county board in Delaware, Georgia, South Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. 

In Alabama and South Carolina the enforcement of the compulsory 
attendance law is made specifically the duty of the board, while in Texas, 
Kentucky, Missouri, and South Carolina, the boards' relation to the ad- 
ministration of the attendance laws is indicated by the fact that attend- 
ance officers are selected by them, as less specific statements seem to 
authorize the county board to do in other states. The Georgia county 
board is also required to enforce certain statutory provisions concerning 
vaccination in connection with school attendance. The provision is also 
common, as for example in the North Carolina code, that "the county 
board shall have power and is charged with the duty to enforce the school 
laws," the regulations of the state department of education being some- 
times added. 

A dwindling function of the intermediate unit, particularly as far as its 
lay element is concerned, is the certification of teachers. State certifica- 
tion is becoming common, and even where the issuance of county certifi- 
cates is still legal, fewer teachers apply for them. Apparently even where 
the county superintendnet is the "executive officer" of the county board, 
the professional character of the certification of the teaching force is 
recognized by charging the professional officer rather than the lay board 
with the duty. South Carolina is an exception. Kansas is another, but 
although the code does not preclude the appointment of laymen on the 
board, its functions in general suggest a board of teachers. The Califor- 
nia board is charged with examining applicants and issuing certificates, 
but a majority of the board is required to hold valid certificates. A 
number of states provide for a distinctly professional board, apart from 
the county board, to assist the county superintendent in conducting exam- 
inations for applicants for both county and state certificates and to grade 
papers of those who apply for the former. 

Of growing importance, perhaps, is the relation of the lay board func- 
tioning on the intermediate level to the provision of supervision of class- 
room instruction. The county is too large a unit for school supervision, 
in many states at least, unless there is provided a staff of supervisors as 
opposed to a single officer. Facts secured by inquiry to the state depart- 
ments and from the codes are assembled in Table II, and indicate the 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 19 

large discretionary powers of county boards in this matter. For example, 
in Alabama the county board selects, on the nomination of the county 
superintendent, "assistant superintendents, supervisors, and such office 
force as may be necessary." The Kentucky board is empowered to 
appoint, on the nomination of the county superintendent, supervisory and 
clerical assistants, including one attendance officer. The county board 
of Ohio divides the county into "supervision districts," for each of 
which the presidents of the boards of the component districts elect a 
supervisor on the nomination of the county superintendent. In the event 
the presidents of the district boards fail or refuse to elect, the county 
board appoints a supervisor. The Oregon board has as one of its chief 
duties to divide the county, except school districts of the first class, into 
supervisory districts of from 20 to 50 school districts, and to employ 
supervisors for the several supervisory districts, who are paid out of the 
general fund of the county. The Texas county board has limited power 
to appoint assistants to the county superintendent. The Utah board has 
power to "appoint all * * * officers that in its judgment may be neces- 
sary." The Wisconsin committee on common schools appoints "super- 
vising teachers," on nomination of the county superintendent. The com- 
mittee must appoint one supervising teacher ; if the county has more than 
125 schools, it may appoint two. The state reimburses the county for the 
expenditures for the supervising teachers. 

Provision through the county board is, of course, only one of the plans 
in use for providing better supervision. California puts an "emergency 
and supervision" fund at the disposal of the county superintendent, to be 
used in part for this purpose. Washington, though it has a county board, 
is seeking to secure supervision by a bonus for consolidation, and requir- 
ing the consolidated districts to employ a superintendent. West Vir- 
ginia has no county board, and authorizes the joint employment of district 
supervisors by two or more. school districts, somewhat as is done in New 
England. Pennsylvania and other states with no county board are trying 
other plans more similar to appointment by a board. 

The relation of the county board to the county superintendent as the 
chief professional officer in the intermediate unit is important, not only 
as describing one important function of several county boards, but as 
•ndicating how the general body of functions will tend to be exercised. 



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24 



THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 



TABLE III.— RELATION OF COUNTY BOARDS AND COUNTY 
SUPERINTENDENTS 





Supt. is 


Supt. is 






Supt. ap 




Supt. is 


board's 


board's 


Supt. is 


Supt. is 


points or 


Board is 


appointed 


executive 


secre- 


member 


chairman 


nominates 


advisory 


by board 


officer 


tary 


of board 


of board 


board 


to supt. 


Ala. 


Ala. 


Ala. 










Del. 




Fla. 

Ga. 










Ky. 


Ky. 


Ky. 










La. 














Md. 


Md. 












Mo. 


Mo. 


Mo. 










N. C. 


Tenn. 


N. C. 
Tenn. 










Utah 














Ark. 


Ark. 


Ark. 
Cal. 


Cal. 
Ind. 
Iowa 
Kan. 

Miss. 

N. Mex. 


Ind. 

Iowa 

Kan. 

Miss. 

N. Mex. 


Kan. 
Miss. 


Iowa 


Ohio 


Ohio 


















Ore. 


Ore. 


Ore. 


Ore. 








S. C. 






S. C. 




Tex. 


Tex. 


Va. 














Wash. 


Wash. 


Wash. 


Wash. 



The county boards in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Louis- 
iana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Utah are charged with the 
responsibility of selecting the county superintendent. In Alabama and 
Missouri, besides selecting him, they prescribe his duties in addition to 
those required by law, and fix the amount of his salary. He is described 
as the secretary and executive officer of the board, is present at all its 
meetings, but is not allowed to vote. In Arkansas, the county superin- 
tendent is elected by the county board "by contract in the same manner 
as local boards employ teachers," and serves as its secretary and executive 
officer. The county board of Delaware appointed as its executive officer 
a county superintendent of schools who served as its secretary. The 
parish board of Louisiana elects "a superintendent of schools" for a 
term of four years, whose relations to the board are essentially those of 
a city superintendent to a city board, thought somewhat more explicitly 
prescribed by statute. The Maryland county superintendent is appointed 
by the county board, serves as its executive officer with the right to 
advise but not to vote. The county superintendent in North Carolina is 
appointed by the county board, is ex-officio its secretary, and reports to 
it each month. The Ohio county superintendent is the executive officer 
of the county board, which appoints him The Utah county board of 
education appoints biennially a superintendent of schools, whose work is 
left largely to their direction. 

In some states where the selection of the county superintendent is not 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 25 

lodged with the county board, his relation to it is still defined in much 
the same terms. In Florida and Georgia the county superintendent is 
ex-officio secretary to the county board. He is described as both secre- 
tary and executive officer to the board in Tennessee. The Texas county 
board is required by statute to designate the county superintendent as its 
secretary and executive officer. 

A distinctly different relation is apparent in a number of county board 
states, in which the county superintendent is a member of the board, and 
frequently an ex-officio chairman. In such cases, the board's relation to 
the county superintendent is sometimes described as "advisory." The 
California board consists of the county superintendent and four members 
appointed by the county board of supervisors, the superintendent being 
ex-officio secretary. The county superintendent is a member of the 
county board in Indiana, is designated by statute as its presiding officer, 
and is allowed a vote. In Iowa the board is composed of six members 
and the county superintendent, who is its chairman, and as one of its 
duties acts as an advisory board to the county superintendent and co- 
operates with him in formulating plans and regulations. In Kansas, where 
as noted above the board is chiefly an examining body, the county super- 
intendent is chairman and nominates the other members to the county 
commissioners, who appoint. He is a member and ex-officio chairman, 
in Mississippi, where the other members are appointed by him. In New 
Mexico the county superintendent is a member and ex-officio chairman. 
The Oregon county superintendent, under the general law, has the same 
relation, plus the power of appointing the other members who constitute 
his advisory beard. The South Carolina board consists of three members, 
one of whom must be the county superintendent, and is described as an 
advisory board with whom he may consult when in doubt as to his offi- 
cial duty. The division superintendent is also a member of the county 
board in Virginia. In Washington the county superintendent is a mem- 
ber, ex-officio chairman, and appoints the other members. Besides grad- 
ing' the manuscripts of applicants for elementary school diplomas and 
adopting textbooks, the board functions in assisting the county superin- 
tendent in preparing manuals, etc., and in formulating rules and regula- 
tions for the schools of the county. 

In states in which no county boards of education are provided the 
functions discussed in the foregoing pages are disposed of (i) by vesting 
them in the county superintendent as an independent officer, (2) by 
making no provision for their exercise on a broader scale than the local 
school district, (3) by enlarging the state school administration to include 
some of them, and (4) by assigning them to non-educational county 
boards. The extent to which the first of these possibilities is employed 
can be made clear only by a detailed study of the functions of the pro- 
fessional officer in the intermediate unit. The limited possibility of the 
exercise of such functions by the local district, where that distnet »s 



26 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

merely the territory served by a single one-teacher school, is sufficiently 
evident- Their exercise by state departments is not only counter to deep 
seated prejudices of many American communities, but retards by remov- 
ing occasion the development of an intermediate unit of school adminis- 
tration capable of performing the co-operative service which has been 
suggested as one of the growing features of such units. 

The disadvantages of the exercise of these functions by non-educational 
boards, such as the board of supervisors or the commissioners' court, are : 
ist, that such boards are selected primarily for other duties and hence 
may possess small fitness for these tasks ; 2nd, that, being engrossed in 
other county business, they may have small interest in school matters, 
with the result that they exercise these powers over the schools without 
a careful program and along lines of "least resistance" or political expedi- 
ency; and 3rd, that the system fails to locate responsibility definitely 
enough that the people can hold the officers properly accountable. 

The following study of the allotment of these powers in New York 
illustrates these points quite clearly. 

The intermediate unit in New York state school administration con- 
sists primarily of a professional officer known as the district superinten- 
dent of schools, though some of the functions considered above are lodged 
elsewhere in whole or in part. The territory of this officer, the "super- 
visory district," consists of from one to nine towns, usually either four or 
five, lying within a single county. The superintendent is chosen by a 
special board of school directors, who have no other duty to perform. 
He is allowed a salary of $1800 and a traveling and expense account of 
$600 by the state, each of which may be supplemented by the county 
board of supervisors. He works under the direction of the Education 
Department, the Commissioner of Education having the authority to 
withhold his salary for neglect of duty, or to remove him from office for 
cause. 

The functions which seem most truly to distinguish the "county unit" 
and the "district unit" plans of school administration are in New York 
largely vested in the district officers, although the district superinten- 
dent has some part in each. With regard to teacher selection, the authority 
is clearly placed with the district trustee (275-8, 0) while it is made 
the duty of the district superintendent "to especially advise trustees 
relative to the employment of teachers" (395-4). The modification of 
these and other statutory provisions which result from common practice 
and indicate a process of evolution in school administration are made a 
separate study. 

The erection and maintenance of school houses does not devolve so 

(1) References in parentheses are to the 'New York Education Law as 
amended to July 1. 1920. 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 27 

completely on the district school officer. Designation of the site is one 
of the powers of the school district meeting (206-7). The district meet- 
ing also votes the tax for erection of the building and the improvement 
of the site (206-8), in connection with which it probably exercises con- 
trol over the building plans- However, in general the trustee exercises 
all the usual prerogatives in connection with providing a school house, 
furniture, and apparatus, and keeping the same in repair. (275-4, 5» 6, 14, 
15, 16). The district superintendent is charged by the law (395-4) with 
the duty of advising with and counseling trustees in relation to the repair, 
construction, ventilating, heating and lighting of school houses and im- 
proving and adorning the school grounds. He also has the power, pre- 
sumably as the representative of state authority, to direct the trustees to 
make alterations and repairs to the school house or outbuildings, not to 
exceed $200 in any one year (395-5) ; or to repair or replace school furni- 
ture, not to exceed $100 in any one year (395-6) ; or to abate any nuisance 
in or on the school grounds (395-7) ; and the added power to condemn a 
school outright (395-8; 456). 

The control of district lines is placed in the hands of the district super- 
intendent. He sees that the records of the boundaries are properly kept, 
and are complete and correct (395-1) ; he may organize new districts out 
of the territory of existing districts (121) ; he may dissolve one or more 
school districts and from their territory form a new one, or annex it to 
another district under his jurisdiction (129) ; he may alter the boundaries 
of districts with the written consent of the trustees of the districts 
affected, or of the board of education in the case of a union free district 
(123) ; if the trustees or boards of education refuse their consent, he may 
file an order making the alteration, and provide a hearing at which, on 
demand of the trustees concerned, the town supervisor and the town 
clerk may sit with him and participate in the decision as to whether the 
order shall be confirmed or vacated (124, 125) In any of these cases his 
actions are subject to review by the State Commissioner of Education. 

The participation of the supervisor and the town clerk in the considera- 
tion of the district superintendent's action concerning alterations in 
school districts is a clear case of a resort to non-educational officers for 
the exercise of functions of school administration. 

There is in New York no budgeting or taxing for school purposes on 
the intermediate level, except that the county board of supervisors may, 
in its discretion, supplement the salary paid the district superintendent and 
lay a tax on the towns composing the supervisory district to provide the 
necessary money (389-2) ; and that the town board is required by law to 
employ an attendance officer and to fix his compensation, "which shall 
be a town charge" (632-2). So far as the determination of the amounts 
of these items and the levying of the corresponding tax constitutes the 
making of a budget, the function is exercised by non-educational officers. 

The apportionment of school moneys received from the state is done 



28 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

by the district superintendent (134; 498), and seems to be purely clerical 
work, since his distribution to the districts is exactly "as shown by 
the certificate of the Commissioner of Education to said district super- 
intendent." 

Of the correlation of the schools of a supervisory district into a system 
by determining the scope of work each shall undertake and arranging for 
the transfer of pupils, nothing is done except by the district meeting, on 
the initiative of the local officer or the suggestion of the district super- 
intendent. The local trustee can determine what the school shall teach. 
The state makes large contributions to the maintenance of the school, but 
it does not assume to limit the work that shall be undertaken to an 
amount that can be done with a prospect of success. It allows no 
"academic quota" to a school whose high school work has not been ap- 
proved (493-1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ; but it does not thereby deny permission to do 
academic work. In general the withholding of the "academic quota" tends 
to control the amount of high school work undertaken, but within the 
elementary school there is no limitation on the amount a school shall 
undertake. 

The "contract system," however, is apparently well devised to promote 
the limitation of work by permitting schools with small numbers of ad- 
vanced pupils to contract for the instruction of such pupils in some larger 
school and thus make possible more effective work for the lower grades. 
The decision to take such a step rests with the school district meeting. 

The transition of pupils from elementary to academic schools, an im- 
portant phase of correlation, is administered by the Education Depart- 
ment through the "preliminary examinations," for the local conduct of 
which the district superintendent is largely responsible. 

Little has been done in New York to provide high school opportunities 
by co-operation or inter-organization of the local districts. Such stronger 
districts as care to, provide secondary school work. When this work has 
been approved by the Education Department, they are eligible to receive 
$50 annually from the state for each non-resident academic pupil in 
attendance from a district not maintaining an academic department, or 
who has completed the course of study prescribed for the school in the 
district in which he resides. Under certain conditions tuition in excess 
of the $50 may be charged, in which case it is a charge on the district 
from which the pupil comes. In the case of an excess charge, the dis- 
trict may designate the academic school which the pupil must attend, 
0) otherwise each pupil attends the academic school of his choice. Al- 
though apparently without more explicit authority to do so than is granted 
in 206-18, some districts have made provision for the transportation of 
pupils. 



(1) As amended by "An Act to Amend the Education Law, relative to 
the apportionment of public moneys for the instruction of non-resident 
academic pupils," 1921. 



UNIT OP STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 29 

For several years, the school law has contained provision for the organ- 
ization of "central high school district" (187 to 189-L), after the plan 
common in a number of states, notably California, but there is no in- 
stance of organization under it. Such a central high school would be 
administered by a board composed of one of the trustees (or sole trustee) 
of each component common school district and two representatives ap- 
pointed by the board of education of each union free school district 
included. For the purposes of the maintenance of its common school, 
each component district would continue unchanged, and the machinery 
for the administration of the secondary school would be superimposed. 
The composition of the board would be such that a minimum of duplica- 
tion would result- 
As noted above the people have not chosen to employ this plant of pro- 
viding secondary education. The organization of a high school by an indi- 
vidual district, with the expectation of receiving the quotas for non- 
resident pupils, is the general situation. Although by this plan the state 
makes a most generous contribution for affording each pupil high school 
opportunity, it represents a form of state provision in which many local 
communities are purely passive, escaping direct support of secondary 
education for their children and having, even since the recent amendment, 
no share in directing and controlling it. Further, the system does not 
establish the relation between elementary and secondary schools that 
exist in a well organized city school, in which there are mutual adapta- 
tions to the end that the pupil's time may be conserved and by which he 
sees before him a continuous road to high school graduation with the 
resultant stimulation to aspire to it. 

Even more serious, the system does not always produce an adequate 
number of accessible high schools or guard against an over-supply of 
weak, inefficient high schools in other sections. A study of the admin- 
istration of high schools in the New York Rural School Survey shows 
that a very high per capita cost, inefficient work, and a very limited 
offering of subjects are all likely to characterize the small high school- 
New York would undoubtedly do well, while continuing the present large 
contribution to secondary education from state funds, to develop a unit 
of school administration which would be capable of regulating the num- 
ber and character of high schools, and in the control of which all of the 
communities from which the pupils come would have part. 

So far as the certification of teachers continues in New York to be 
performed by any authority short of the state control, it is made the 
business of the district superintendent. 

The function of prescribing a course of study is lodged with the dis- 
trict trustee, subject to certain statutory provisions concerning content 
(275-10) ; and the district superintendent has no power under the statute 
bevond counseling with the teachers concerning the course of study thus 
selected (395-2). Syllabi issued by the Education Department undoubt-. 



30 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTERMEDIATE 

edly determine the course of study in practically all cases, not only be- 
cause of the prestige and authority of the department, but because all 
grade and preliminary examinations are based on them. Undoubtedly 
these state courses of study need local adaptation, but it is seriously to 
be doubted if the district trustees, a lay officer whose term of office in 
those districts that have only one trustee is a single year, is fitted for 
the responsibility. New York has other and more urgent needs for an 
intermediate school unit composed of lay representatives of the local 
community and an associated professional officer, but such a unit could 
render real service in the solution of the course of study problem as well. 

In the matter of selection of textbooks, the statutes are of less signifi- 
cance than current practice- Legally the district meeting is charged with 
this highly technical professional function (670-1, 2), except in the single 
county of St. Lawrence. 0) Fortunately it is a power which the peo- 
ple forego. In actual practice, the selection is probably most frequently 
made by the teacher. The list of textbooks in use in the school of the 
nearby trading center is for reasons of convenience frequently used in 
the rural schools. In very small schools, where there are only one or 
two pupils in a grade, the teacher frequently makes shift with any books 
of the proper grade that the pupil brings from home. In reading, supple- 
mental books owned by the school lessen the disadvantages of such a 
course. The office of the district superintendent in this connection is 
advisory only (395-4), but he evidently can, when he seeks to do so, exert 
considerable influence. In a few instances, at least, the district superin- 
tendents of a county have united in issuing a recommended list with the 
request that it be followed, and have secured co-operation from the teach- 
ers and approval from the public. 

Besides the convenience and economy of that part of the public that 
may move from one district to another, there is a distinct educational 
advantage in uniformity of textbooks in most subjects in such territory 
as has the supervision of instruction in common and mingles its students 
in a common high school. This uniformity New York could secure 
through the agency of such an intermediate unit as has been described. 

The New York plan purports to seek primarily to provide supervision 
of classroom work. This is the duty of the district superintendent, who 
has been charged by a former commissioner of education to let the 
management and financial affairs of the district alone beyond "friendly 
advice and counsel." (2) It can be questioned whether supervision can 
be wholly efficient apart from administration. Like instruction, which 
it helps to produce it is the product of administration. But that question 
aside, does the New York plan lend itself ideally to producing a program 
of supervision? 



(1) Laws of New York 1913, Chapter 653. 

(2) Draper, A. S.: "What Is Expected of District Superintendents," Ad- 
dress, November 28, 1911. 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 31 

The district superintendent is elected by a board of school directors 
who function in no other way. They choose a single officer, regardless 
of the needs of the supervisory district. If the salary fixed by the state 
is not sufficient to command the services of a man competent to meet 
the demands of the work, the board of school directors are helpless. 
Whenever the office is more than an $1800 position, it is by the decision 
of the board of county supervisors — distinctly a non-educational board. 
(491-1, 2). Not even the board of supervisors seem from the law to have 
explicit authority to equip an office for him, or to employ a clerk, or to 
supplement his work as a supervisor by employing additional supervisors. 
The state pays his traveling and office expenses (supplies and clerical 
help, telephone and telegraph tolls) up to $600 a year, and the board of 
supervisors may appropriate funds to pay for "necessary printing and 
office supplies." i 1 ) If this is inadequate because of the conditions in 
the district, there is no authority anywhere to increase it. Like county 
offices in general, his office must be the creation of detailed statutory 
provisions, with no single power vested with the authority to permit 
modifications. 

This inflexibility in the office is emphasized when one considers the 
diversity of conditions which confront the district superintendents in 
the different parts of the state. Some of these differences are involved 
in the size of the districts. Supervisory districts vary in size from 57 
square miles to 1729, and in number of teachers to be supervised from 
less than 30 to 240 or more- Other important differences effect the 
character of the work. 

Since by statute, the district superintendent is the professional coun- 
selor of the administrative officer in each school district, his work is 
very much affected by the number of school districts to which he is 
related. Cook and Monahan ( 2 ) rate this as one of the chief factors in 
determining the efficiency with which such an officer can work, and 
indicate that the ideal is to have the administrative and the supervisory 
units identical. Table IV shows the differences in this factor— surely 
sufficient to demand some recognition if there were an authority with 
power to make adaptation. There is a vast difference between dealing 
with 17 and 70 different trustees. In more than half of the cases, the 
difference is relatively small, but it is still important that there be pro- 
vision for the exceptional cases. 

Table V indicates the range of difference in the school population— a 
range from less than 400 to more than 9300. In one-fourth of the super- 
visory districts the number of children between five and 18 years of age 
is 2,140 or more, with 20 supervisory districts containing more than 2,900. 
The same provision for school supervision that is made in the 40 cases 
with less than 1,100 children can not be adequate in these. 



(1) County Laws. Section 12, Subdivision 31. 

(2) Cook & Monahan: "Rural School Supervision, p. 2d, 



32 



THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 



TABLE IV— SUPERVISORY DISTRICTS COMPOSED OF GIVEN NUM- 
BERS OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS (1) 





REGIONS (2) 




Number of Districts 


I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


Total 


17 


1 














1 


21-23 












1 




1 


24-26 


2 














2 


27-29 












1 




1 


30-32 


3 










1 




4 


33-35 


1 




1 


2 








4 


36-38 


1 


1 


2 


1 


1 


3 




9 


39-41 


1 


3 


1 


5 




3 




13 


42-44 


1 


5 


6 


8 




1 


2 


23 


45-47 


2 


4 


4 


14 


1 


5 


1 


31 


48-50 


1 


6 


5 


7 


3 


2 


1 


25 


51-53 


1 


7 


5 


17 


2 


3 


2 


37 


54-56 




3 


2 


12 


3 


1 


1 


22 


57-59 


1 


3 


2 


4 


4 


1 


4 


19 


60-62 


1 


3 


3 




1 


2 


2 


12 


63-65 






1 




1 


1 




3 


66-68 


















69-71 














1 


1 


Total 


16 


35 


32 


70 


16 


25 


14 


208 


Median 


39 


49.3 


49.2 


49.1 


55 


46.5 


57 


49.8 



(1) Data derived from the Abstracts of Trustees' Reports for 1919-1920. 

(2) Determined on the basis of topography, agricultural pursuits, and 
population. Region I is suburban or semi-urban districts in the vicinity of 
New York City and other cities in the center of the state; II, the Hudson 
and Mohawk valleys; III, the central lakeshore region; IV, southern New 
York, west of the Catskills; V, the Catskill region; VI, the Adirondacks; 
and VII, the northern lakeshore section and the St. Lawrence valley. 



TABLE V— SUPERVISORY DISTRICTS CONTAINING GIVEN NUMBERS 
OF CHILDREN 5-18 YEARS OF AGE (1) 





REGIONS 




Children 


I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


Total 


300- 499 








1 








1 


700- 899 




1 


2 


7 


1 


5 




16 


900-1099 




3 




12 


5 


2 


1 


23 


1100-1299 




4 


2 


12 


1 




3 


22 


1300-1499 




2 


5 


11 


4 


4 


3 


29 


1500-1699 




2 


4 


7 


1 


4 


3 


21 


1700-1899 




3 


2 


7 




2 


2 


16 


1900-2099 




6 


1 


2 




3 




12 
14 
11 
8 
9 
6 
1 
2 
1 
3 
1 
1 
3 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 


2100-2299 




4 


5 


2 


1 




1 


2300-2499 


1 




3 


4 


2 






2500-2699 


1 


1 


2 


3 








2700-2899 




4 


2 


1 






1 


2900-3099 




1 


2 


1 


1 




3100-3299 






1 










3300-3499 


1 


1 












3500-3699 


1 














3700-3899 


2 




1 










3900-4099 


1 














4300-4499 


1 














4500-4699 


2 


1 












4900-5099 




1 












5500-5699 


1 














6100-6299 


1 














7100-7299 


1 














7300-7499 


1 














7700-7899 


1 














93C0-9-199 


1 














Data Lacking 




1 ' 












1 


Totals 


16 


35 


32 


70 


16 




14 


208 
1619 


Median 


4500 


1966 


2100 


1355 


1350 


1530 


1500 



(1) Data derived from Abstracts of Trustees' Reports, 1919-1920 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 



33 



TABLE VI- 



-SUPERVISORY DISTRICTS OF GIVEN DENSITY OF 
SCHOLASTIC POPULATION (1) 



Children per 


REGIONS 




Square mile 


I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


Total 


0- .9 












1 




1 


1- 1.9 












1 




1 


2- 2.9 








1 




2 




3 


3- 3.9 




1 


1 




3 


10 




15 


4- 4.9 




3 




6 


1 


2 


1 


13 


5. 5.9 




1 




7 


5 


2 


3 


18 


6- 6.9 




3 


2 


17 


2 


3 


3 


30 


7- 7.9 




1 


1 


7 


3 




2 


14 


8- 8.9 




3 


2 


7 


1 


1 


3 


17 


9- 9.9 




3 


4 


10 


1 


1 


2 


21 


10- 10.9 




2 


2 


3 




1 




8 


11- 11.9 




2 


2 


2 








6 


12- 11.9 




3 


1 


2 








6 


13- 13.9 




3 


5 


2 








10 


14- 14.9 




2 


3 


1 




1 




7 


15- 15.9 


1 


2 


1 


1 








5 


16- 16.9 






1 


2 








3 


17- 17.9 


1 


1 


3 










5 


18- 18.9 


1 




2 


2 








5 


19- 19.9 




1 














20- 29.9 




1 


1 












21- 21.9 


1 


2 


1 












26- 26.9 


3 
















30- 30.9 


1 
















32- 32.9 


1 
















33- 33.9 


1 
















37- 37.9 


1 
















45- 45.9 


1 
















59- 59.9 


1 
















73- 73.9 


1 
















95- 95.9 


1 
















07-107.9 


1 
















Data lacking 




1 














Total .... 


16 


35 


32 


70 


16 


25 


14 


208 


Median ... 


31.5 


11.0 


13.2 1 7.6 


5.8 


3.8 


7.0 


8.5 



(1) Scholastic population, as in Table V. divided by area of supervisory 
districts, i. e., aggregate acreage rendered for taxation in the component 
towns as given in the report of the State Tax Commission for 1918. 

TABLE VII— SUPERVISORY DISTRICTS IN WHICH THE TOTAL 
SCHOOL EXPENDITURES ARE OF GIVEN AMOUNTS (1) 









REGIONS 




























of Dollars 


I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


Total 


0- 25 








1 








1 


25- 50 




2 


2 


6 


2 


3 


1 


16 


50- 75 




13 


6 


26 


4 


9 


6 


64 


75-100 




7 


13 


21 


7 


8 


6 


62 


100-125 




6 


5 


6 


2 


1 




20 


125-150 


3 


4 


3 


7 


1 


1 


1 


20 


150-175 


1 


1 


2 


1 




2 




7 


175-200 


1 














1 


200-225 








1 




1 




2 


225-250 




1 


1 










2 


250-275 


2 


1 




1 








4 


300-325 


2 














2 


325-350 


1 
















350-375 


1 
















500-525 


1 
















525-550 


1 
















575-600 


1 
















600-625 


1 
















750-775 


1 
















Total 


16 


35 


32 


70 


16 


25 


14 


208 


Median (2) 


312 


84 


90 


77 


82 


76 


75 


84 



(1) Data derived from Abstracts of Trustees' reports, 1919-1920. 

(2) In thousands of dollars. 



34 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

Table VI shows a variation that also demands adjustment. The travel- 
ing expenses of a supervisor in sparsely settled districts will certainly be 
greater than those of one where the population is dense and the schools 
larger and close together. His net time for supervision, after deducting 
time spent on the road, will be greatly reduced. Thickly populated dis- 
tricts can well afford to provide intensive supervision by the use of a 
staff of specialists covering the same territory. Time and travel costs 
in thinly settled districts make this plan an impossibility and demand a 
supervisor who can render assistance to the teacher in any phase of the 
work. The retention under the New York law of unusually large centers 
of population (all under 4,500) in the general system of rural school 
supervision makes the need for adaptability peculiarly acute. 

Table VII is closely related to the two immediately preceding. The 
total of school expenditure in supervisory districts ranges from less than 
$25,000 to more than $750,000. In half the districts these expenditures are 
less than $85,000, but in 25 supervisory districts they are $150,000 or more. 
It is the function of the district superintendent to advise the local trus- 
tees and boards about all the matters which these expenditures represent. 
If this duty is performed in any adequate way, one would expect that a 
different type of ability would be demanded in district superintendents 
where the business interests of the schools assume large proportions, and 
that provision would need to be made for them to devote larger time to 
such matters. 

Legally the relation of the district superintendent to the strong dis- 
tricts which maintain academic schools is the same as to any other. He 
is with them, as with the single teacher school, the professional officer 
responsible for the character of instruction given. Indeed as the only 
connecting link, except the state's general overhead control, between the 
small rural schools and the village academic schools which their gradu- 
ates attend, his relation ought to be very close. The varying extent to 
which the supervision of academic schools is a phase of the work of the 
district superintendents is shown in Table VIII. Six district superin- 
tendents have no academic schools under their supervision ; two have 
nine with 25J/2 and 44^ academic teachers reported; another has 13 with 
a total of 56 academic teachers. In the latter case a complete plan of 
supervision might well include one specialist devoting much of his time 
to the supervision of academic schools- But before such obvious sugges- 
tions can be put into effect, some educational authority permitted to 
exercise discretion in enlarging or modifying the provision for school 
supervision is necessary, as is now done in so many states. 

This matter of vesting somewhere short of the legislature the authority 
to increase or modify the provision for rural school supervision needs to 
be considered from another viewpoint. How much supervision is needed? 

The view is not infrequently expressed that the rural school problem 
would be solved if a sufficient number of sufficiently well trained teach- 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 



35 



TABLE VIII— DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENTS WHO HAVE SUPERVI- 
SION OF GIVEN NUMBERS OF ACADEMIC SCHOOLS (1) 





REGIONS 




Academic Schools 


I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


Total 









3 


1 


1 


1 




6 


1 


1 


9 


3 


7 


4 


6 


1 


31 


2 




11 


6 


19 


7 


3 


2 


48 


3 


3 


8 


10 


25 


1 


8 


6 


61 


4 


4 


1- 


8 


10 


2 


4 


4 


33 


5 


2 


4 


2 


6 




2 


1 


17 


6 


3 


1 




2 


1 


1 




8 


8 




1 












1 


9 


2 














2 


13 


1 














1 


Total 


16 


35 


32 


70 


16 


25 


14 


208 


Number of Aca- 


















demic Schools 


85 


93 


87 


202 


35 


68 


44 


614 



(1) Data derived from Statistical Reports Relating to the Apportionment 
of Public Money, 1919-1920. 



ers were available. The statement comes near being the deadly obvious. 
But there is every reason to believe that, social conditions remaining about 
as at present, a large part of the teaching staff in the rural schools will 
remain as today young girls, relatively untrained, soon to be married. 
Tenure in a given position will be brief, because of the considerable num- 
ber of young women who leave the schools each year to be married, many 
are those who by virtue of a few years' experience have won the right to 
teach in rather better than average schools. With free competition among 
the schools of the locality, the vacancies they leave produce a whole series 
of shifts in position and the process tends to be repeated endlessly. A 
large improvement in the general level of training and tenure in the 
rank and file of rural teachers will come slowly indeed. 

Many industrial employers face the same situation. Their effort at 
a solution has been intensive training for a brief period, followed by a 
system of guidance and training in service that takes into account the 
deficiencies in the preliminary training of the employees. The parallel 
with school administration is evident. By utilizing a part of that por- 
tion of the teaching staff that has adequate training, experience, and 
professional vision, supervision can be modified and extended almost at 
will. When this possibility is considered in connection with the fact 
that supervision has been all but lacking in the rural schools of many 
states in the past, it would seem that it is the point of primary attack in 
any effort to improve rural school conditions- 
Tables IX and X give some idea of the amount of supervision the 
classroom instruction in New York rural schools received in 1919-1920. 
There are indications that this is somewhat increased since the state has 
allowed a larger expense account to the district superintendents. Un- 
fortunately the statistical information does not reduce the statements 
of number of "inspections" as the term is used to the actual unit of 
supervision. The number of inspections is reported by the principal 



36 



THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 



teacher, if there be more than one, so that an inspection is thought to 
mean a visit to a school, whether one or more classrooms are visited. 
However, since in the great majority of cases, except in the suburban 
region, the schools are one-teacher schools, the figures are not very mis- 
leading. 

TABLE IX— SUPERVISORY DISTRICTS IN WHICH THE DISTRICT SU- 
PERINTENDENT MADE CERTAIN AVERAGE NUMBERS OF 
INSPECTIONS PER SCHOOL DISTRICT (1) 



Av. No. Inspections 


REGIONS 




per District 


I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


Total 


.5- .9 




1 








1 




2 


1.0-1.4 










1 


1 




2 


1.5-1.9 


1 


7 


1 


4 


7 


4 


1 


25 


2.0-2.4 


2 


7 


2 


12 


4 


5 


1 


33 


2.5-2.9 


2 


7 


8 


26 


2 


2 


3 


50 


3.0-3.4 


3 


5 


9 


16 


2 


6 




41 


3.5-3.9 


3 


3 


5 


8 




3 


2 


24 


4.0-4.4 


1 


3 


4 


3 




2 


3 


16 


4.5-4.9 


1 


2 


2 


1 








6 


5.0-5.4 


1 




1 






1 


2 


5 


5.5-5.9 


1 














1 


6.0-6.4 














1 


1 


6.5-6.9 


















7.0-7.4 


1 












1 


2 


Total 


16 


35 


32 


70 


16 


25 


14 


208 


Median 


3.5 


2.7 


3.3 


2.9 


2.0 


2.9 


4.0 


2.9 



(1) Data derived from Abstracts of Trustees' Reports, 1919-1920. 

TABLE X— TOTAL NUMBER OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE SUPER- 
VISORY DISTRJCTS IN WHICH THE AVERAGE NUMBER 
OF INSPECTIONS WAS LESS THAN 1, LESS 
THAN 2, LESS THAN 3, ETC. (1) 



Average No. of 


REGIONS 




Inspections 


I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


Total 


Less than 1 




61 








46 




107 


Less than 2 


51 


391 


56 


206 


451 


293 


71 


1519 


Less than 3 


241 


1148 


568 


2125 


752 


656 


267 


5557 


Less than 4 


436 


1508 


1262 


3232 


857 


1024 


381 


8700 


Less than 5 


504 


1732 


1523 


3420 


857 


1110 


550 


9696 


Less than 6 


590 


1732 


1570 


3420 


857 


1132 


656 


9957 


6 or more 


17 












117 


134 



(1) Data derived from Abstracts of Trustees' Reports, 1919-1920. 



Table IX shows that two district superintendents did not succeed in 
visiting each of their schools in the course of the year; the average in 
these cases was less than one visit per school district. Two other super- 
intendents did not get half around the second time. In 25 supervisory 
districts the average was less than two. In half the supervisory districts 
of the state, the superintendents visited their schools less than three 
times on the average. In only 16 districts was the average number of 
inspections as many as 4.5, or one visit in two months. 

Table X presents the same facts in terms of the number of school dis- 
tricts for which the several averages apply. There were 107 school dis- 
tricts in the supervisory districts where the superintendents' inspections 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 37 

averaged less than one per district. Only 134 school districts received 
supervisory visits as often on the average as once in six weeks. 

How New York compares with other states in this regard can be only 
roughly estimated from the data available. (See last column of Table II, 
page 20 ff). It should be remembered that the provision of clerical help 
frees the superintendent for supervision, and that in general the class- 
room is the unit to be considered. It is also evident that a single super- 
visory assistant freed from the miscellaneous duties that devolve upon a 
single officer will more than double the amount of actual supervision 
that can be accomplished. Taking these facts into consideration, it 
would seem that several states have made more effective provision for 
rural school supervision than has New York. Certainly a large number 
of states has made the program subject to enlargement in response to 
need and popular understanding of the problem. Its failure to do this is 
perhaps the greatest weakness of the New York plan. 

Other factors to be considered are the matters of the length of these 
visits and the attitude of the supervisor in his work. From weekly re- 
ports of some of the district superintendents, it is evident that at certain 
seasons of the year particularly their visits are very brief — frequently as 
many as six or seven in a day. With the time for travel considered, the 
actual visit must be very brief indeed. The same reports make it clear 
that some of the visits are purely "inspections," the term the New York 
superintendent always uses in his reports. He calls, checks up the at- 
tendance as shown by the teacher's register, sees that the register is being 
properly kept, inspects the building, outhouses and library, frequently 
delivers to the teacher bulletins or manual sent out from the state depart- 
ment, and hurries on to the next school. Not all his visits are like this, 
but part of those that make up the average just considered certainly are- 

Besides the matter of approving a course of study and the selection of 
textbooks, two or three other matters of a purely administrative nature 
seem in New York to demand the attention of a more fully developed 
intermediate unit. The law now provides for the appointment of an 
attendance officer for each town by the town board, which is composed of 
the supervisor, three justices, and the town clerk. This board also fixes 
his compensation. The appointment is, however, subject to the wirtten 
approval of the district superintendent, and the officer is removable by 
him. (632-3). 

The supervision of the enforcement of the compulsory attendance law 
is a large part of the work of the district superintendent, and his relation 
to the attendance officer should be clearly that of a chief to a subordi- 
nate. This relation would be more easily maintained if, instead of 
merely exercising a veto power, the district superintendent nominated the 
officer and some educational board approved the nomination. More 
serious is the intervention of a non-educational board in this important 
function of school administration. New York educational authorities 



38 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTERMEDIATE 

have been foremost in insisting that educational administrative machinery- 
must be separate and distinct from local political machinery. This doc- 
trine the courts have sustained with reference to urban school adminis- 
tration in more than one instance. To quote a recent utterance of Acting 
Commissioner Frank B. Gilbert ( x ) will indicate the spirit and scope of 
the doctrine. 

"The people's cause of public education will be best served by holding 
fast to the sound educational doctrines that our public schools are state 
institutions established by the state, and maintained jointly by the state 
and the school districts, as a separate political subdivision, for state pur- 
poses. The application of this doctrine demands the recognition of boards 
of education as state agencies. The proper exercise of their official 
functions demands that they have the exclusive power to determine edu- 
cational policies, and to fix the amount which will be expended, reason- 
ably, for school administration. They should be held responsible to the 
people for any failure to provide the facilities which are requisite for 
the children's instruction and they must account to them for extravagant 
and useless expenditures and for lack of economy and evils of adminis- 
tration." 

The application of this principle to the rural school administration has 
never been made with completeness, as the foregoing pages show. To 
apply it, it would be necessary to institute a system of school adminis- 
tration complete enough to provide for the appointment of attendance 
officers by an educational authority ; to assign to the same authority the 
large control over the district superintendent's salary now possessed by 
the board of supervisors ; and to remove from the supervisor and the 
town clerk possibly to the same authority the hearing of protested cases 
in changes in school district territory. The present allotment of these 
functions is undoubtedly determined by the lack of school administration 
machinery capable of dealing with them. They would all belong naturally 
to a fully developed intermediate unit. 

Another administrative matter demanding the services of such a unit is 
that of medical inspection and health work. At present provision for this 
is made by the trustee of each local district acting independently (310-21). 
As shown by the study of medical inspection made in the Rural School 
Survey, there is great diversity of cost and service. Economy and effi- 
ciency would undoubtedly be promoted, and more consistent results 
secured if some educational authority acting for all the school districts 
of a town or a supervisory district made arrangement for this work, 
remuneration and service to be consistent throughout the territory. 

New York's recent effort to make physical education available for all 
of the children of the state has been most ambitious and worthy. It 
ought to have succeeded. The law was so amended in 1920, however, as 
to make it the duty of the regular classroom teacher to give the instruc- 
tion in schools of fewer than ten teachers; and by a second amendment 



(1) Gilbert, Frank B.: "Financial Independence of Boards of Education " 
an address before the Association of School Boards a;;d Trustees, Auburn, 
N. Y., January 23, 1920. (Pamphlet, University of New York), 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 39 

in 1921, in schools of fewer than 20 teachers. Prior to the 1920 amend- 
ment, the law was put into effect by the joint employment of a physical 
education teacher by the local school districts. It was an exceedingly 
inconvenient procedure, by which the district superintendent had to carry 
a contract around to all of the trustees concerned for signatures and 
agreement to the proportion of cost, etc., with the possibility that any 
trustee v. ho chose to be hard to please could delay the procedure greatly 
and all but defeat the program. If there had been a supervisory district 
board to which the administration of the law might have been entrusted, 
the probabilities of success would have been greater. At present, there is 
need for intensive supervision of the work done by the regular teachers 
in physical education, whose preparation has been limited in most cases 
to attendance on a few physical education conferences. Indeed, new 
subjects are introduced into the curriculum quite as easily and frequently 
by provision of special supervision — including guidance and training in 
service — as by the use of special instructors. 

The hearing of appeals, one of the functions frequently assigned the 
intermediate unit as a link in the system of school administration, is to 
the extent of taking testimony and assembling evidence, a function of the 
district superintendent. 

To the writer, this review of New York practice with regard to the 
functions frequently exercised by a lay board with an associated profes- 
sional officer on the intermediate level clearly indicates a need for such 
administrative machinery. Some agency must systematize and correlate 
the schools, provide high school opportunity and adequate supervision, 
and administer newer educational activities which the local district can- 
not deal with effectively New York must choose between seeing the 
state department exercise a larger power, and control an increasing 
number of matters of school administration ; and providing semi-local 
administrative machinery fitted to perform these tasks. 



40 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

PUBLICATIONS TO WHICH CITATIONS ARE MADE 

Cook, OKatherine M., and Monahan, A. C. :Rural School Supervision. U. S. 
Bureau of Education: Bulletin, 1916, No. 48. 

Draper, A. S. : What Is Expected of District Superintendents, in "Addresses 
before the Rural Education Association of New York State Teachers' As- 
sociation, Albany, November 28, 1911." Albany. New York State Educa- 
tion Department, 1912. 

Gilbert, Frank B.: Financial Independence of Boards of Education, an ad- 
dress before the Association of School Boards and Trustees, at Auburn, 
N. Y., January 23, 1920. Pamphlet, University of New York. 

SCHOOL CODES. COMPILATIONS OF SCHOOL LAWS, SUPPLEMENTS 
TO SUCH PUBLICATIONS AND SEPARATE LAWS EXAMINED. 

Alabama — General Public School Laws, March 1, 1919. State Department of 

Education. 
Arizona — The School Laws of Arizona, 1919. C. O. Case, Superintendent of 

Public Instruction. 
Arizona — Senate Bill No. 104, 1921. An Act to provide for county educa- 
tional organization, county boards of education, and county school officers. 
Arkansas — Digest of Laws Relating to Free Schools in the State of Arkan- 
sas, 1920. Department of Public Instruction. 
California — School Law of California, 1919. Office of Superintendent of 

Public Instruction. 
California — Senate Bill No. 310, 1921. An act to amend sections * * * 
of the Political Code of the State of California relating to schools and 
school revenues. 
Colorado' — The School Laws Annotated of the State of Colorado, as amended 
to date. June 30, 1917. Mary C. C. Bradford, State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction. 
Colorado — Educational Laws Passed by the Twenty-second General Assem- 
bly, 1919. Mary C. C. Bradford. State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion. 
Connecticut — Laws Relating to Schools Passed at the 1917 Session of the 
General Assembly, 1917. Connecticut School Document No. 8, 1917 
(Whole No. 417). 
Connecticut — Laws Relating to Schools, 1920. Connecticut School Document 

No. 3, 1920. (Whole No. 439). 
Delaware — Delaware School Code, 1920. By authoritv of the Secretary of 

State. 
Delaware — The School Daws of Delaware as Enacted by the General As- 
sembly, 1921. An act to provide for the establishment and maintenance 
of a general and efficient system of free public schools. 
Georgia— Georgia School Code. 1919. Department of Education, M. L. Brit- 
tain. State Superintendent of Schools. 
Florida— Digest of the School Laws of the State of Florida, 1915. Compiled 

by W. N. Sheets. Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
Florida — Laws Relating to Education Enacted by the Florida Legislatures of 
1917 and 1919. Compiled by W. N. Sheats, State Superintendent of Pub- 
lic Instruction. 
Idaho— Compilation of Laws pertaining to the State Board of Education 
and the Educational Institutions of the State of Idaho. Effecive April 
1, 1919. Idaho Bulletin of Education. Vol. V. No. 7, 1919. 
Idaho — General Laws of the State of Idaho Passed at the Extraordinary 
Session of the State Legislature, 1920. By authority of the Secretary 
of State. 
Illinois— The School Lav/ of Illinois as Amended by the Fiftieth General 
Assembly. 1917. Compiled by J. C. Thompson, under the direction of 
Francis G. Blair, Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
Illinois— The School Law of Illinois Enacted by the Fifty-first General As- 
sembly, 1919. Issued by Francis G. Blair, Superintendent of Public In- 
struction (Circular No, 138). 
Indiana— Laws of Indiana Relating to the Public School System, 1917. Pre- 
pared under the direction of Howard Ellis, State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction. 
Indiana — School Laws Enacted by the General Assembly of 1919 A supple- 
ment to the School Laws of Indiana, 1917 Edition. 1919. Prepared under 
the direction of Linnaeus N. LTines. Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
Iowa— School Laws of Iowa, Edition of 1915. A. M. Deyoe, Superintendent 

of Public Instruction. 

Io wa— School Laws of Iowa, frcm Code of 1897. the Supnlement to the Code, 

1913. and the Supplemental Supplement. 1915. with the Acts of the Thirty- 

seventh and Thirty-eighth General Assemblies, 1919. The State of Iowa, 

Iowa — Recent Sclu.ol Legislation, May 28. 1917. State of Iowa, Department 

of PubMc Instruction. 
Kansas— Laws Relating to Education, Session of 1919. State of Kansas, 



UNIT OF STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS 41 

Department of Education. 

Kansas — Laws Relating to the Common Schools of Kansas, including offi- 
cial opinions and suggestions to school officers. 1920. Compiled under the 
direction of Lorraine Ellizabeth Wooster, State Superintendent of Pub- 
lic Instruction. 

Kentucky — Common School Laws of Kentucky, 1918. V. O. Gilbert, Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction. 

Kentucky — 'County School Administration Law, 1920. George Calvin, Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction. 

Louisiana — Public School Laws of Louisiana and Sanitary Regulations of 
the State Board of Health. Eleventh Compilation. 1919. 

Louisiana — Public School Laws of Louisiana Enacted by the General As- 
sembly of 1920. (Supplement to the Eleventh Compilation of School 
Laws). 

Maine — Laws of Maine Relating to Public Schools, 1919. 

Maryland — The Public School Laws of Maryland, as contained in the Code 
of Public General Laws of 1912 and the Acts of the Assemblies of 1912, 
1914, 1916, and 1918. The State Board of Education. 

Maryland— Synopsis of Laws Enacted by the State of Maryland, Legislative 
Session, 1920. Compiled by Horace E. Flack, Department of Legislative 
Reference, Baltimore. 

Massachusetts — Revised Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Re- 
lating to Public Instruction, enacted by the Legislature November 21, 
1901, to take effect January 1, 1902, with subsequent amendments and 
additions from 1902 to 1914, inclusive; 1915. 

Massachusetts — Educational Legislation Enacted in 1915. 1916, 1917, 1918. 
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Bulletin of the Board of Educa- 
tion, 1918, No. 7 (Whole No. 98). 

Massachusetts — Educational Legislation Enacted in 1919. The Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, Bulletin of the Board of Education, 1919, No. 
6 (Whole No. 108). 

Michigan — General School Laws, Revision of 1919. Compiled under the su- 
pervision of Coleman E. Vaughan, Secretary of State. 

Minnesota — Laws of Minnesota Relating to the Public School System, In- 
cluding the State Normal Schools and the University of Minnesota, 1919. 
Prepared under direction of James M. McConnell, Commissioner of Edu- 
cation, and Clifford L. Hilton, Attorney General. 

Mississippi — School Laws of the State of Mississippi, 1918. W. F. Bond, State 
Superintendent of Education. 

Mississippi — School Laws of the State of Mississippi Enacted by the Legis- 
lature of 1920. W. F. Bond. State Superintendent of Education. 

Missouri — Revised School Law of the State of Missouri; Revised Statutes 
of 1909, Session Acts of 1911, 1913, 1915, and 1917; 1917. Uel W. Lam- 
kin, State Superintendent of Public Schools. 

Missouri — Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 128, Fifty-first General 
Assembly. An act creating a county school district in each county of 
the state, . . . (1921). 

Montana — School Laws of the State of Montana, June, 1919. Compiled at 
the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

Nebraska — The School Laws of Nebraska, 1919 Edition. W. A. Clemmons, 
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

Nevada — The School Code, 1919, as. Amended. Compiled and issued by the 
Superintendent of Public Insruction, August. 1919. 

New Hampshire — Laws of New Hampshire Relating to Public Schools, com- 
piled from Public Statutes and Session Laws of 1891-1917, Inclusive; 1917. 
Department of Public Instruction. 

New Hampshire — An Act in Amendment of the Laws Relating to Public 
Schools and Establishing a State Board of Education. Approved March 
1919; 1919. State of New Hampshire. 

New Jersey — New Jersey School Laws and Rules and Regulations Prescribed 
by the State Board of Education, etc., 1918. Prepared by the Commissioner 
of Education. 

New Jersey — Laws of New Jersey, 1919, Chaper 80 and Chapter 81 (Ap- 
proved April 10, 1919) ; 1919. McCrellish & Quigley, State Printers. 

New Jersey — Amendments and Supplements to School Law, together with 
Related Laws, Session of 1919. State of New Jersey, Department of 
Education Bulletin, Vol. V, No. 9. May, 1919. 

New Jersey — Amendments and Supplements to School Law, together with 
Related Laws, Session of 1920. State of New Jersey, Department of 
Education Bulletin, Vol. VI, No. 9, May, 1920. 

New Mexico — Compilation of School Laws of State of New Mexico, 1919. 
Jonathan H. Wagner, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

North Calorina — The Public School Law of North Carolina, 1919. Issued 
from the Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

North Dakota — General School Laws, comprising all the laws in force per- 
taining to the Public Schools, 1919. State of North Dakota, Department 
of Public Instruction. 



42 THE LAY ELEMENT IN THE INTEEMEDIATE 

North Dakota — Educational Laws Enacted by the 1921 Session of the Legis- 
lature of North Dakota, 1921. Issued by the State Department of Educa- 
tion, Minnie J. Neilson, Superintendent. 

Ohio — Ohio School Laws, 1915. Compiled under the direction of Frank W. 
Miller, Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

Ohio — Advance Sheets of School Laws, Enacted by the Eighty-second Gen- 
eral Assembly at its Regular Session, 1917; 1917. Compiled and prepared 
by H. D. Swygert, Statistician, F. B. Pearson, Superintendent of Public 
Instruction. 

Ohio — .Advance Sheets of School Daws Enacted by the Eighty-third General 
Assembly at its Regular Session, 1919; 1919. Compiled and prepared by 
H. D. Swygert, Statistician, F. B. Pearson, Superintendent of Public 
Instruction. 

Oklahoma — -School Laws of Oklahoma, 1919. Compiled under direction of R. 
H. Wilson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

Oregon — Oregon School Laws with Rules and Regulations of the State Board 
of Education, 1919. Prepared by the State Superintendent of Public In- 
struction. 

Oregon — General Laws of Oregon, 1921, Chapter 255: An Act establishing 
school districts in any county of the state when adopted by the voters of 
such county; 1921. 

Pennsylvania — The School Law and Appendix, 1919. Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania, Department of Public Instruction. 

Rhode Island — Laws of Rhode Island Relating to Education. In force Jan- 
uary 1, 1910; 1910. Compiled by Walter E. Ranger, Commissioner of 
Public Schools. 

Rhode Island — Laws of Rhode Island Relating to Education. Supplements 
No. II (Acts of 1911), No. Ill (Acts of 1912), No. IV (Acts of 1913), No. 
V (Acts of 1914), No. VI (Acts of 1915), No. VII (Acts of 1916), No. VIII 
(Acts of 1917), No. IX (Acts of 1918), No. X (Acts of 1919), and No. XI 
(Acts of 1920). Department of Education, State of Rhode Island. Edu- 
tion Circulars. 

South Carolina— General School Law of South Carolina, 1919; 1919. Pub- 
lished by J. E. Swearington, State Superintendent of Education. 

South Dakota — The School Laws of South Dakota, Annotated Edition, 1919. 

Tennessee — Public School Laws of Tennessee, together with leading deci- 
sions of Supreme Court, explanatory notes and amendments made by the 
General Assemblies to June 1, 1920. Robert Williams, State Superinten- 
dent of Public Instruction. 

Tennessee — Public School Laws of Tennessee, Enacted by the General As- 
sembly of 1921 (Supplement to the 1920 Compilation of School Lawk). 
Issued by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

Texas — Public School Laws of Texas with Court Decisions and Comment for 
the Use of School Officers; December 1, 1917. The Department of Edu- 
cation, State of Texas, Bulletin 70. 

Texas— School Legislation of the Second Called Session of the Thirty-sixth 
Legislature, July, 1919. Department of Education, State of Texas, Bul- 
letin 102. 

Texas — Texas School Laws. A Brief Compilation for Teachers, Relating to 
Teachers and Pupils; June, 1920. Department of Education, State of 
Texas, Bulletin 122. 

Utah—School Laws, Reprinted from Compiled Laws of Utah, 1917, and Ses- 
sion Laws of Utah, 1919. State of Utah, Department of Public Instruc- 
tion, E. G. Gowans, Superintendent. 

Vermont— General Laws of the State of Vermont Relating to the Department 
of Education; 1918. 

Vermont— Acts of 1919, Nos. 55, 56, 58, and 59, Relating to Appointment of 
Superintendents. . . . State of Vermont, State Board of Education 
Bulletin No. 3, 1919. 

Virginia— Virginia School Laws, June, 1920. Bulletin, State Board of Edu- 
cation, Vol. Ill, No. 1. 

Washington — Code of Public Instruction, Annotated, together with Opinions 
of the Attorney General's Citations from Decisions of the Supreme Court. 
Rules of the State Board of Education, Instructions Relative to the 
Issuance of Bonds, and an Appendix; 1917. State of Washington. 

Washington — School Laws of Washington Enacted by the Legislature of 
1919; 1919. Published by authority. Mrs. Josephine Corliss Preston, Su- 
perintendent. 

West Virginia— The School Law of West Virginia, Containing the provisions 
of the Constitution relating to Public Education, Chapter 45 of the Code, 
and other Acts and parts of Acts relating to Public Education; March, 
1920. Compiled and Issued by- the Department of Schools, M. P. Shawkey, 
State Superintendent. 

Wisconsin — Wisconsin School Code, 1919. Published under the direction of 
E. P. Gary, State Superintendent. 

Wyoming— School Laws of the State of Wyoming, 1919. Compiled under the 
direction of the State Department of Education. 



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